The Economist reported in June 2014 that U.S. student loan debt exceeded $1.2 trillion, with over 7 million debtors in default. In 2014, there was approximately $1.3 trillion of outstanding student loan debt in the U.S. that affected 44 million borrowers who had an average outstanding loan balance of $37,172.

This level of debt in and of itself is not a problem -- as long as that debt can be covered by the salaries of the graduates with the debt.

The problem comes when a person borrows a huge amount that has no chance of being repaid given his expected graduating salary.